Our friends The Ackleys came over for dinner tonight and Brooke brought some DELICIOUS pastries. She is very humble about her efforts-but let me tell you--baking is an art-and she is the master artist! Thanks Brooke!
- Ingredients
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup cold butter
1 egg
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup Sour Cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup half-and-half cream
Directions
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat in the egg, egg yolks, sour cream, vanilla and yeast mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Place three ungreased baking sheets in the refrigerator.
Sprinkle 1/2 cup sugar over a clean work surface. On the sugared surface, roll half of dough into a 12-in. x 8-in. rectangle (refrigerate remaining dough until ready to use). Sprinkle rectangle with 4 teaspoons sugar; fold into thirds.
Give dough a quarter turn and repeat rolling, sugaring and folding two more times. Roll into a 12-in. x 8-in. rectangle. Cut into twelve 1-in.-wide strips; twist. Place on chilled baking sheets. Repeat with remaining sugar and dough.
Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately remove from pans to wire racks to cool.
For icing, combine confectioners' sugar and cream. Dip twists into icing or drizzle icing over twists.
Yield: 2 dozen.I read that you have to make sure & chill the dough or they wont turn out. Using warm dough I guess encourages the yeast to grow too much? Also, someone recommended to make sure & split the dough in half when rolling it out. I read it was a disaster trying to roll it all out at once instead of half at a time. And last, I used our kitchenaid but actually read that doing it by hand is better. (over mixing may cause them to be too hard?) I just made sure to mix everything just until it incorporated and made sure I didnt over mix the ingredients. The dough was a little crumbly but when I rolled it into a ball with my hands it was fine. I just followed the directions and they turned out I guess how they are supposed to? It was easier than the directions made it seem.
